Reality Check

At work I deal with a lot of emotions through family member and/or through the residents, patients, or clients directly. Today reality hit me. As I was talking to one of my patients, she had a card from her neighbour and long time friend. Well before I start I should explain the type of people I encounter on a daily basis without giving out too much detail. I work with people, seniors mostly, who can not live independently due to various factors (i.e. dementia, danger to themselves, danger to others, aggressive behaviours, etc). So my job as a Recreation Therapist is to work with them to improve their quality of life and to help them gain their independence through their recreation and leisure interests.

So that being sad, back to my point. One of my residents had received a card from her neighbour and good friend and she started to read it to me. It was a very touching letter which in the end brought tears to this resident's eyes and felt ashamed cause she was getting emotional over a stupid card. But one part of the card read something like this:

 I hope you are doing well and we miss you very much. This past week I went to one of our dear friend, ______'s, funeral. It was a nice funeral but I miss her. Next week will be my 86th birthday and in the coming months yours. You're catching up to me in age. ha ha Next time I'm in the city, I will make sure to come visit you.

Now those are not the exact words and I do admit my memory was a little fuzzy recalling this portion of the letter but it reaches the same emotion, I think. So it got me thinking... 50 years from now, would I still be in contact with my close buddies? Would I be writing letters to them if I knew they were in a facility getting treatment cause of their memory loss or their uncontrollable behaviours due to dementia? Or would they write or visit me if I was in that situation. I would hope so and I would definitely visit or at least write. After all they are my friends and if our friendship lasts until we are 80, I think I would be entitled to check up on them and see how they were doing in their time of loneliness and need. I would want the same.

My job isn't always fun and games as most people would like to believe. I admit, I do have fun for the most part but there's the other part where reality hits and hits hard. Working with seniors, especially those with dementia, has given me a new appreciation on life and on this specific population. I wish more people would embrace them instead of neglecting them. There are many of us who embrace them but just as many people who do not. Our population in general is getting older, so lets slow down, get down on our knees and listen to their life stories.